Justice League: Gods and Monsters
Yet another example of excellence from DC Comics animated movie team. This is an alternate universe where the Justice League is made up three, and I use the term loosely, heroes. Superman is the son of General Zod, not Jor-el, Batman is a vampire (created by Science!), and Wonder Woman is one of the New Gods. All them have no issues what so ever in killing bad guys. Just to set the tone for this universe a bit more firmly, Amanda Waller is President. Ya, it’s a dark reflection of the DC Universe. Things only get worse when the Justice League starts getting framed for killing scientists. In the end, it’s a wake up call for the League, with some help from Lex Luthor, who seems to be crossed with Stephen Hawking in this setting.

This book covers an important piece of American history, the first foreign war fought by the United States. The Barbary nations associated with the Ottoman Empire practiced piracy and enslaved captured crews of any Nation that could not defend its merchant fleet or could not afford the “tributes” the leaders of the Barbary Coast nations demanded as the price to not have ships, cargos, and crews captured and sold. It was President Jefferson (the third President) who decided that continuing to pay foreign nations who held US citizens for ransom (while forcing them to perform hard labor as slaves), and continuing to raid US flagged merchant vessels, was bad policy. President Jefferson persuaded Congress to fund new Naval construction and personnel to take the fight to the Barbary pirate nations. This well researched book details the diplomatic front, as well as the battles fought by the US Navy and Marines.

Starting the new year with the latest in the Terminator francise. Once again, they are moving forward with the premise of changing the timeline doesn’t always work the way you want it to. Ya, I’m going to do spoilers, so quit now if you care. This entry has some delightful (to the fan base at least) almost scence for scence sequences from the orginal. Plus it has Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a T-800 series who has been guarding Sarah Connor since a T-1000 tried to kill her as a little girl. The flesh around the machine ages, which is how they explain using a current Schwarzenegger for the aging robot. The special effects are great and the fights are epic. Well worth the popcorn and rental.